AXA Hong Kong to expand Macau insurance presence

Insurance firm AXA Hong Kong has announced the expansion of their business in Macau with the opening of a new office, the implementation of the latest “InsurTech” and the growth of their local sales teams to cope with growing demand for insurance policies within the Macau market.

“The average income of Macau residents has increased and the current labor population in Macau is relatively young with around 54 percent aged 25-44. The need for wealth management and insurance protection has increased accordingly,” noted the company in a press statement. “Besides this, the insurance penetration rate is only around 2 percent, and we can see a huge demand in the Macau market.”

Traditionally, life and savings insurance products have been more popular in the Macau market. However, now home and travel insurance are becoming more popular, fueled in part by the devastating effects brought about by typhoons Hato and Mangkhut.

The company will launch travel and home insurance in Macau in the second quarter of 2019.

AXA Hong Kong has been providing services in Macau for nearly 30 years. In the past two years, it has expanded its team in the MSAR by more than one-quarter, further expecting to double its agency force in the next two years.

Over the past 12 months, AXA Hong Kong has seen its Macau business grow by about 15 percent.

Value of economic activities rises 9.1 percent in 2017

The gross value added by all economic activities in Macau registered 9.1 percent growth in real terms in 2017, according to the latest data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), after declining 0.7 percent year-on-year in 2016.

DSEC added that the growth was bolstered by the “satisfactory performance” of the tertiary sector, with gross value added by gaming and junket activities rising 16.2 percent, while the wholesale and retail sector increased 21.9 percent.

Also according to DSEC, the relative importance of the secondary sector to total gross value added fell from 6.7 percent in 2016 to 5.1 percent in 2017, owing to a decrease in the share of construction. Meanwhile, the relative importance of the tertiary sector rose from 93.3 percent to 94.9 percent, with the increased shares of hotels and similar activities, wholesale and retail and gaming and junket activities.

The share of gaming and junket activities grew by 2.5 percentage points year-on-year to 49.1 percent, whereas that of non-gaming services dropped by 0.8 percentage points to 45.8 percent.

Gross value added by the secondary sector declined by 20.6 percent in real terms, with that of construction dropping by 28.8 percent, and that of manufacturing and electricity, gas and water supply rising by 7.7 percent and 17.2 percent respectively in real terms. At the same time, gross value added by the tertiary sector increased by 11.2 percent in real terms.